Main menu

About MEMF

Midlands Early Music Forum is an organisation which exists to promote all aspects of early music in the Midlands of England. It is one of a number of regional fora, which between them cover most areas of the UK. Each forum was set up by a group of enthusiasts, and each has its own aims and aspirations.

MEMF is an open forum. It brings together amateur and professional musicians, singers and dancers, researchers, teachers and pupils, instrument makers, costumiers, and enthusiasts.

We concentrate on music from the Mediaeval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. We’re very proud of our workshop programme which aims to provide opportunities across this wide spectrum of historic creativity.

Joining MEMF enables you to :

Find out what’s going on in the area. We send out regular mailings to members. Our newsletter contains news, reviews, articles and a diary of events. The mailing usually contains other items of interest, such as promotional leaflets for early music events and services. If it’s happening, we’ll tell you about it.

Participate in workshops which MEMF organises on a wide range of early music topics. MEMF engages tutors of the highest reputation without charging silly prices to participants. Philip Pickett, Philip Thorby, Harry Christophers, Jeffrey Skidmore… our list of past tutors reads like a Who’s Who of early music. MEMF workshops are open to the general public, but as a member you receive valuable discounts on our already reasonable entry fees, and advance notification, so that you will be first in the queue if there is a limit on the number of participants.

Attend our social events, which vary from small-scale evenings in members’ homes to Members’ Socials and Concerts, often held in historic buildings.

Contact other like-minded members. Our regularly updated membership list will allow you to locate members in your immediate area, or more importantly, members who share your specific interest. If you want to start a small choir, join a dance group, learn to play the spinet or find a local crumhorn maker, this is the place to start. Alternatively, you could take the blanket approach and insert a free member’s advertisement in the newsletter. Use the same channel to advertise instruments for sale, or performances in which you are involved.

Borrow one of MEMF’s loan instruments to try (if available) to see how you get on with it before buying one of your own.

Annual Membership Fees are as follows :

Individual

£ 10.00

Students

free

Group

£20.00

(Organisations)

Group membership covers mailing to a single address, and entitles any two members of the group to attend a MEMF workshop at concessionary rates.

Recent Posts

The Kerll workshop was an excellent day. David Hatcher is a superb tutor who knows just how much to rehearse without becoming tedious and can get the best out of singers and players alike. The music is quite complex and was apparently much studied – and copied – by Bach and Handel. We had to work hard, but it was all very rewarding.

We have a break for the summer, but look forward to Will Dawes of Stile Antico introducing us to music by Giaches de Wert on September 19th.